Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Weaving and Leaving

I took a break from the towels and addressed the sampler warp. I recounted the threading, replaced the missing warps, pulled the warp forward, tied in the new ends and then wound it back on. Then I changed the reed, sleyed the warp and tied it on - the loom is dressed! As soon as I finish the towels on Miss Millie, I'll put on a dummy warp for a handspun lap blanket and weave the sampler on Maude Mae. I love it when a plan comes together.I finished the third towel today. The second one is plain weave stripes but the colorful warp was wasted on the stripes so I went back to the block weave, but made them an inch square. I think I'll only use two colors and make rectangles for the fourth towel. We're flying to San Diego Thursday morning for my stepson's wedding, so I'll decide which colors to use when we get back.I watched Madeline's instruc-tional CD and adopted her suggestion to tie in the floating selvedges and then weight them with S-hooks, only mine weren't quite heavy enough so I supplemented the weight with a couple pair of scissors -perfect. You can see the roll of contractors paper. It has made a huge difference in keeping the tension even across the warp and throughout the project.

I would have enjoyed the project a lot more if I hadn't fought the selvedges at every turn, literally. I finally came up with a make-do solution. I threw the shuttle and then stuck the index finger of the same hand into the warp about midway and below the weft, then drew the weft down on the other side with the other hand, forcing the weft into a neat arc. The problem was compounded by the weft ends building up. I emailed Rae and am going to visit her studio after we get back and see how an end-feed shuttle works. I think there's one in my near future.I finished another scarf. This one is from my blue ribbon handspun yarn. This year I'll submit it at the Nevada County Fair, but as a scarf. I don't know if you can see the subtle color changes but it's really lovely and soft - merino, bamboo and silk! I hope the judges like it a second time.Benita and I "chatted" last month about journaling, after I found those of my mother and grandmother. She sent me a journal to encourage me to get started keeping one of my own, which I am doing. Thank you Benita! I idly laid the mailed on top of the Mail Dish. The snoopervisor immediately wanted to know all about it and ended up adopting it as his favorite place to sleep. The sun hits there in the later afternoon and we haven't had the heart to dispose of Charlie's unsightly beloved bed - so far.

I've never used an end feeding shuttle as I've not yet found an issue with my regular old boat shuttles. They're older adn quite heavy though, so maybe that makes a difference. I have a a newer, custom made one, which is lighter and has a few issues at times. Please write a review of how you like the end feed shuttle.